LemonCello

One of the practice rooms we use has one of these mated to a Hartke 4x10 and I love its 'punchiness' Built to last too, but watch the control knobs that stick out a bit - easy to twat and bend them. Enjoy! LC

Played an Epi Allen Woody some time ago. Lovely looking thing too if you can find one. LC

Yep, listen to Lozz. Personally, I think Fenders ought to be passive too.

A big belly avoids buckle rash - I should know

Go for the Classic Vibe every time. Great build quality and playability. Play lots and pick the best one! LC

It is very common to find fiddles with labels purporting to place the instrument from one of the old Italian schools. It's probably German (Markneukirchen) and with a good set up might turn out to be quite playable. I bought same such fiddle with one of these labels in from the free ads a long time ago, very similar varnish to yours for £80 quid. Had it valued (and subsequently sold it) for £200. The Bow that was with it was stamped Nack Vuillame and I got a bit excited until someone told me that 'Nack' means 'after' or more commonly 'copy'. A decent German fiddle from the 40's/50's will go for £500 - £750 these days, although prices haven't held up well in the last few years. Echoing the good advice above, take her to a reputable Luthier who will be able to advise you. LC

Our drummer is the best musician in our band, but suffers from a lack of confidence and stage fright. We keep bigging up his playing and his confidence is growing. Our singer sings flat however and is stopping us from getting out gigging. Trying a new one out on the wknd tho!

Whilst mooching up and down the aisles in HMV the other week I came across CD's issued by bands such as: [list] [*]Get cape, wear cape, fly [*]The front bottoms [*]f*** [*]sh*t Disco [/list] and back in the day (of punk) there were notable bands such as [list] [*]The Snivelling Shits [*]Toe Jam [*]The Queers [/list] Makes our name 'The Reserves' sound rather.....well....reserved! LC PS: Saw 'Massive Scrotum Damage' on a band name generator site the other nite! Quite catchy I thought....

I'm holding out for the Asda Smart Price Bass Player Tee!

Thanks for all the comments guys! I'm on my second glass as we speak. Seriously though, it's a real result if I can 'give birth' so to speak, to another bass player in the world and I found the teaching process very rewarding. First time I've taught an adult. I just hope he doesn't want daily lessons! LC

Well, Pat (which is short for something!) has had his first bass lesson! Lovely chap he is too. He has a fair understanding of music from playing keys and a bit of guitar so knows note values and scales so we were able to make a bit of progress. I got him to do some basic open string exercises to start with to get his right hand in - crotchets, then quavers across the strings etc. I wanted to get him playing to some music quickly so I chose Yellow by Cold Play which is very easy for bass - lots of repeated quavers and patterns for the left hand. His right hand was very natural, able to keep time and rhythm. I had to remind him to keep his left hand parallel to the fingerboard at times but he picked it up very quickly and appreciated playing some actual music! He's left with his homework and I am a bottle of JD better off! Same time next week! LC

The general store just around the corner changed hands a few months ago and is now run by two Sri Lankan guys. Very amenable they are too, plus they sell Jack Daniels £3 quid cheaper than Tesco's!! Anyway, the previous owners had ordered bass guitar mag for me and I went in yesterday to pick up the new Jaco issue. One of the guys asked me if I played Bass - conversation ensued. Turns out he's a well known singer of Bollywood style music and goes off to London regularly. He told me that bass players in his community (Tamil) are rare and would I be prepared to give him lessons? So, a deal was struck - bottle of JD per lesson! Marvellous! LC